September 5, 2004

DEER CAMP

Summer missed its chance to bring warm sunny weather to Belle Baie.  Fall is on its way and on days like today when the sun does shine it is cold to a boy born and raised in southeast Texas.  Even the locals add a sweatshirt over their tees but they refuse to give up their shorts just yet. 

This morning the temperature had managed to climb to fifty by nine o’clock when the coffee and tea had been made.   Making a few notes while I ate a piece of sausage I planned my clothing for the coming day.  The furnace had run all night and from the looks of the thermometer anyone being outside would need more than a tee shirt and jeans.  I opted for a tee shirt, turtle neck, jeans, socks and my deck shoes.  I was planning on going to a hunting camp.

While I sat writing June came over with her grandchildren, Kristin and Dylan.  On different occasions we had entertained them while she and Al were busy or when the kids wanted to come to our house.  This morning they were going home and June wanted a picture of them with us so the kids could have it.  Onie was still stirring under the covers so I called her.  When she was ready we sat on the couch with the kids while June snapped pictures, for her and us.

It was close to ten and a peek out the window showed Brian Muise was over at Daniel Sauliner’s, next door.  I stepped out and called to Brian asking if he was ready to go to his deer camp.  He was.  Grabbing a windbreaker, the camera, kissing Onie goodbye and taking a coke from the refrig I made a hasty exit and met Brian outside in his truck.

We had an ideal day for the ride to his deer camp.  The sun was shinning, it was cool, hunting season was drawing nigh and leaves were turning.  As we made the drive northwest we talked about hunting seasons past and to come, deer that had been taken and those that had walked, herd management and predators.  From time to time Brian’s son managed to get a word in edgewise but for the most part it was just two men talking about a sport they both loved.

In the Annapolis Valley we left the One Oh One and went toward the shore.  The Annapolis Valley might well be called the bread basket of Nova Scotia.  It is here that beef and dairy farms, hay meadows of natural grasses and alfalfa and corn fields cover the landscape like so much patchwork.  In addition huge hothouses for growing tender vegetables and fields of grain contribute to the scenery.  More hardy vegetable, turnips, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, beans, rutabagas and rhubarb, to name a few; thrive in the well maintained farms.  In many of the fields deer, coming down from the hills, grow fat while eating crops.  Brian spotted one such deer as we drove through the Valley.  Does and bucks outweigh East Texas deer by fifty percent or more but whatever it is that contributes to horn growth seems to be missing as many bucks have anemic looking horns, at three and four years old.

A line of tall hills separate the Valley from the coast.  One such hill is called North Mountain and it was over North Mountain we traveled to get to the scenic rock strewn coast where, in many places, the trees end on a high cliff overlooking Scotts Bay.  It had been just a few nights ago Darin’s herring seiner had made its turn around near here at the end of its leg on the survey.  That night all we could see was the running lights of other seiners as they participated in the survey.  Today we saw the beautiful island dotted bay.  We stretched our legs a bit and then got back in the truck for the climb back up the mountain and to the deer camp.  Spruce, maple, birch and other trees grew in profusion on both sides of the dirt/gravel road as it twisted and turned up the mountain side.  On either side we could see the land falling away into deep ravines before rising again to go higher.  Hunting here would be much different from the gentle rolling hills of Walker County. 

A few years ago Brian, his dad, brother and a couple of other guys bought five acres and built a camp house on it, here on top of the mountain.  Today Brian, his dad and brother own the cabin as the other guys dropped out for business reasons.  Due to property laws in Nova Scotia it is much easier, and cheaper, to hunt on private property here than it is in the states.  Brian and company have several miles of land they hunt, without ever going on Crown land.  To access it they use four wheelers a lot.

Brian has put a new floor in the camp house and has been varnishing it.  Of course all the furniture and stoves, propane cook stove, wood burning stove and oil burning stove, had been moved out.  Today Brian and his son, with a little help from me, moved everything back in place. 

By most standards their deer camp is quite comfortable and much better than some houses I lived in growing up.  Even the outhouse is nicer.

With the furniture back in place we headed back to Belle Baie.  The drive was occupied with more talk of hunting with a little bit of Colorado trout fishing and of course some lobstering.  Brian is a lobsterman and his son, even though he is only fourteen, has already spent time working on the boat.

We got back around three.  Having skipped lunch we were all hungry so I had a snack as soon as I was in the coach.

A hoarse croupy Ann came by to visit, she was in the park doing a ladies hair, and stayed until after four when she figured she better get home to beat the rush hour traffic.

Onie began a Lifetime Movie while the laptop occupied me.  We paused to have a little supper and then resumed what we were doing.  When the fingers couldn’t write anymore they switched to solitaire before going to bed where Onie was still watching movies.

September 6, 2004

LABOR DAY

The thirties are back and that doesn’t refer to years, it refers to temperatures.   At seven this morning, with the sun just beginning to peek over the horizon, the mercury dipped below the forty mark. 

Our regular coffee and tea helped wash down the cod and bacon we had for breakfast.

With two more weeks of stories completed Onie sat down with the laptop to do her part and then post to the web.  David Matthew called and we visited while Onie read stories and resized pictures.  When the phone line was free she began the upload process after checking her email.

Outside I began to labor.  After all it was Labor Day.

Margie had emailed Onie and told her that she and Bill would arrive on the thirteenth instead of the sixteenth as originally planned.  That would give them a full week here before we leave on the twenty first.  We were glad they would be here early but that also meant the coach needed to be clean, repacked and ready for the road prior to their arrival.  That way we wouldn’t lose time with them, organizing for the trip home.

The first order of business was to drain the fresh water holding tank and sanitize it.  The same water had been it for almost three months.  While the water was chlorinated we wanted no bugs, bacteria, in it so it was drained.  Next I opened the access plug and poured a cup of household bleach into the tank before running more water in it.  That water would be left a few days to kill any bugs.  Next the batteries were checked and then the holding tanks flushed and rinsed over and over until we were satisfied they were completely emptying each time.  The coach would have to be washed and have 303 applied before starting home and that would create some water around the coach.  At present there were a lot of grass clippings surrounding the Marlin so a good leaf rake was used to correct that.

Al and June returned from a short trip they had taken and we welcomed them back and from that encounter grew a few games of cribbage and some snacks.  When his stomach began to pain him, Al, went home to cook.  June stayed and she, Onie and I continued playing crib consuming massive quantities of guacamole, Bakenets and cheese dip.

The sun set at eight and we watched it through the window as the last game of crib came to a close.  At nine June went home to check on Al.  When she returned she brought us a bowl of the stew he had cooked.  He was in bed and she was going back to join him.

Onie put the broccoli salad on the table for me and then we each had a bowl of the delicious stew Al had made.

Our gaming night wasn’t over quite yet as we sat down to plays a couple games of dominoes.  Onie had won at crib but now the tables were reversed.  We laughed and enjoyed ourselves before seeking the bed near eleven.

Onie opted for some LMN while I opted to rest.

September 7, 2004

CRIB

Overnight it turned foggy and warm.  When we rose in the haze at eight it was fifty seven.

Onie made the coffee and tea, played a couple of games of spider and left for the gym.

There was lots of writing to catch up on so I sat down and began.

 She returned in an hour and fixed cod and eggs for our breakfast.  Knowing how much writing there was to do she kindly offered to go shopping and leave me to my own devices.

The clock ran as I wrote.  Outside the fog had burned off by noon and the temperature had risen to sixty one.  The sun shone brightly and it promised to be a warm afternoon.

The Brothers as in Gatlin and Statler played and sang as the laptop stored my peckings.  Sometime after noon I broke to snack and dress before returning to the keyboard.

Outside the Neck hove into view by four and the thermometer touched sixty nine for the high of the day. 

Inside the laptop was in danger of overheating as I filled it with my rhetoric and musings.

Onie’s return and my aching back, from sitting so long, saved the computer from a possible memory overload and blown fuse as she dragged me away for some cribbage.

Two games later we stopped to eat our supper then I went over and invited Steven and Yvonne to come pay more crib.  Steve had a meeting but Yvonne showed up shortly and we played three handed until Steve returned when we played partners.  The games went fast, were accompanied by lively chatter and were just grand.

While the four of us were engaged, in high spirits, the clock continued to run and before we knew it time had fled.  It was past ten o’clock and Steve had to work the next day.  They excused themselves and went to their camper.

Onie fixed our dessert and then retired for some TV.

Back at the laptop I recorded a few more events before joining her around one thirty.

September 8, 2004

JAM

Last night we thought we were back in Newfoundland, it was so warm.  When daylight came it was still warm with a heavy overcast.  It didn’t look like we would be seeing old sol today.

Onie made herself some coffee and headed off to the gym with Yvonne and June.  Out of bed with tea brewed I sat down to catch up on national and world news via the WWW.  With a short supply of email I turned to the dirty dishes.  They were just beginning to drain when the girls returned.

While they were gone a little dinner, or should I say supper, party was planned for tomorrow night.  Yvonne is bringing a broccoli salad, June a dessert and we are cooking pork tenderloin; sounds like a feast in the making to me.

Breakfast tacos always go down well, warm weather or cool and this morning was no exception.  When all the makings were gone we figured we had eaten enough so we went on to other interests.

Grocery list in hand I went off to Freshmart, in Little Brook where it was raining, to get a few things, the main being turnips for our supper stew, tonight.

When I returned Onie was standing at the stove with the stew already well on the way to being finished, just needing the turnips.  She had also been cleaning house while I was strolling through the aisles of the grocery.  With the turnips in the stew she sat down to strum and sing a little while I wrote.

While the weather was still trying to make up its mind about raining Al and June came over.  It was one o’clock and time for a little jam.  Onie and June sat up and were soon picking and grinning.

It wasn’t too long before the music infected Al and he picked up a guitar and joined in.

Your’s truly lay on the couch and enjoyed the songs that went out.  Most were gospel and I sang along only wishing for a better voice but I believe God hears and enjoys even my off key singing.  They really had a jam session, working on tunes, keys, major and minor and all those things musicians do.  It lasted for three wonderful hours

When the pickers fingers gave out they stopped and had tea and blueberry bread.  My finger was sore from snapping pictures so I had some too.

Refreshed we began playing crib and played until some friends showed up at five thirty, at Al and June’s.  They went home to receive their guests.

We served up our supper, stew made with steak, cabbage, carrots, onion and turnips.  It would be vast understatement to say it was great but we will leave it at that.

June had left here music books when they went home to greet their guests.  We took the opportunity to copy some songs out of them for Onie.  June has many books and some really wonderful music.  Hopefully they will come to Texas this winter and we will be able to copy more of her music.  With new music Onie tried some it for me while I wrote.  Then her sore fingers gave out again so we had to sing without the guitar. 

Daniel Sauliner saved us from ourselves when he came by to visit.  He was on his bowling and just wanted to stop by and say hello.  We enjoyed his visit even though it was short.

When he left to bowl we copied more music.  While we were hard at it June came back for her guitar and music books.  We invited her and Al back over to finish the crib game that had been interrupted.  She had to check with Al but perhaps they would be back.

Around nine, when we had just about given up on them, Al knocked of the door.  They were back to finish the game.  We played that one and more.  Outside the rain came down.  Inside we were dry, warm, happy and enjoying good friends.  The day had been very good indeed.

Close to eleven Al and June called it a night and made the short walk home.  Fortunately the heavy rain had stopped.

Onie retired to the bedroom to read a little Danielle Steel, Jewels, while I finished a story or two.

September 9, 2004

RECORD

Since our arrival here a few months ago we have talked to many people.  Like the song says “old men talk about the weather and old ladies talk about old men”.  That has certainly been true here, particularly the weather part and there has been a lot to talk about.  When we were here two years ago we stayed three weeks and it might have rained but I don’t remember it.  This year it would be possible to count the sunny rainless days on one hand, for that period, and perhaps on both hands and one foot for the entire summer.  Men, young and old a like, and even some women, agree that this is the wettest coldest summer in more than eighty years, here at Belle Baie.  No, the park hasn’t been here that long but many of those camping here lived their whole lives within five to ten miles of it. The dampness has allowed mosquitoes to breed in larger than normal numbers and let mildew grow where it hasn’t been seen in years; on shoes in closets.  Yes, the rain has brought some good things.  No one has had to water plants, flowers and lawns.  Shallow, hand dug wells, of which there are many have remained full.  Folks who thought their roof might be leaky have been proven right and the list of advantages goes on and on.

Most of the night and this morning we added to the record and those advantages as rain continued to fall in great quantities.  Need I mention the sky was gray and overcast while only the closest part of the bay could be seen?

The late hour last night resulted in me rising later than usual and Onie was already gone to the gym with June.  I sat down to record the rain.

In the past few days the recliner had become molded to my back side from all the time I spent in it catching up on the stories but I had completed that project yesterday and last night.  When we returned from Newfoundland I was three weeks behind and had been slowly reducing the backlog.  Yesterday I finished catching up.  Hopefully I can stay rather current.

Onie returned before tea was made.  In addition to the gym she had stopped at Freshmart to pick up some low carb mousse, made in Canada.

With her back in the coach the world inside continued to turn.  While I helped with the groceries she fixed breakfast and a pot of tea for me.  With breakfast out of the way she began preparation for supper.  The stuffed tomatoes she makes take a lot of doing and then there was the pork tenderloin to take care of and the spinach as well.

Feeling a little lazy, I caught up on some reading about Stateside politics, while consuming my pot of tea and then wrote just a mite.

Outside the world also continued its slow spin; the rain eased and then quit, the fog thinned and then lifted, Digby Neck became a blur and then a distinct outline before coming into full view at one.  And the clock ticked.  The day was growing shorter as were all the days left here for us.

At three the laundry was started on my way to the liquor store where I saw Pierre and we visited about the renovations to his house.

Back in Belle Baie I put the clothes in the dryers and then headed to the house to unload the stuff I had bought before returning to the clothes.

Back at the washateria I read and waited for clothes to dry enough to fold.  The reading was interrupted by a fellow who knew someone that had once lived in Texas.  He wanted to talk about Texas and U.S. politics.  We did.  He was a liberal.  Now he knows I’m not.  He did agree it was far better to fight terrorists, and even Saddam Hussein, overseas than on our own soil.  He just wished someone else would do it, not U.S. and Canadian soldiers.  I reminded him there were soldiers from all over the globe in Iraq and Afghanistan and he agreed with that too, he just thought war is a terrible thing.  I agreed.  I reminded him anytime one sets out to kill another person that is a terrible thing but that is what war is about, killing other people and if the western nations have lost their stomach for killing their enemies then his grandchildren and mine will speak Aramaic.  He agreed with that too but just didn’t like the killing.  May Allah be with him.

As the clothes dried they were folded and placed in the basket for the short trip home.

Somewhere between the clothes going in the dryer and Allah being with my liberal friend the rain began to fall again.

Al, June, Steven and Yvonne were already at the coach when I got back.  I handed the clothes into Onie and then followed them. 

Al was singing and playing.  Finding an open seat I sat down to listen with the rest of the crowd.  He and June sang some duets and soon all of us were joining in.  Steven picked up a guitar and played along until seven when a break was taken for supper.

It was a wonderful meal.  The food was good and the company was better.  Onie had contributed a pork tenderloin, stuffed tomatoes, cucumber salad and steamed spinach.  Yvonne brought a great cauliflower salad and June provided dessert, chocolate mousse topped with cherry granola and fresh blueberries.  Drinks of choice washed it all down.

The couples cut cards to see who would play the first game of crib.  Yvonne and I sat out while the others played.  When a team lost they gave up their spot to the waiting team.  Play progressed and rotated until eleven when all the players were ready for their home crib.

By the time our guests were safely home we were tucked in, our crib.  

September 10, 2004

FRANCES

            There was no band aboard last night as we tried to sleep but we were subjected to rock and roll nonetheless.  Several times during the night we woke to feel the coach reeling before the onslaught of the wind driven rain.  While I’m no expert on wind velocity it is safe to say that gusts may have exceeded fifty miles an hour.

            When we woke at eight there had been little change except for the fact that there might not have been quite as much rain but when it did come it still slashed into the coach with a ferocity that made it sound like sleet.  To reduce the strain on the slide covers we pulled the slides in part or all the way.  Without a doubt we were getting the aftermath of hurricane Frances.  She was just one more episode of unusual weather for the summer.

 With a quick bite of sausage Onie and I got ready to leave, her to the gym and me to the boatyard in Meteghan.  I was going after some marine caulk.   I had been trying to find and stop a leak around the TV satellite dish installation.  If the sun ever comes out again I will have the best material around to renew my efforts.  Before leaving the park we stopped and picked up Yvonne.

At the gym the girls got out and I continued on in the wind and rain to the shipyard.  Just before I arrived there the sun peeked through the clouds for about ten seconds.  It led me to believe that perhaps the rain would end in the afternoon.  The round trip from the gym to the shipyard is fifteen miles and I made that, plus buying my caulk, arriving back at the gym about five minutes before the ladies completed their thirty minute workout.  We drove home in the rain.

Back at the house Onie got ready for what may be her last trip, this year, to the Super Store and Guy Frenchy’s, in Digby.  We reviewed her list, added an item for me, and she was out the door and into the rain again.  I wished her a good safe time.

Yesterday’s notes needed fleshing out and there were clothes to put away from yesterday.  The writing came first.  Before much was done the phone rang.  It was David Matthew calling.  We visited about hunting, fishing, business, family, raising kids, Ivan and other world problems, for about an hour before he had to go.  It was agreed that dealing with Ivan or settling the Middle East crisis would be easier than raising kids.  We are looking forward to spending some time together in the woods, soon.

While we were solving world problems and other thorny issues the rain passed to the north and a little sunshine started to peek through the breaks in the clouds.  The wind was still gusting strong but it was going to blow away the accumulated water and moisture.

By two o’clock we could see the waters of St Mary’s Bay again.

Our leave date is starting to loom near on the horizon of time.  Inclement weather has delayed our work on getting the Marlin ready to travel so when a little sun began to shine I went out to start work, carefully avoiding the standing water. 

Our sun screens have been on for several weeks and have collected some dirt and grime.  I decided to see if they could be washed while on the coach.  I worked on the one on the passenger side with some success but it will have to come off to get the side against the glass.  Next the tires, wheels and tar on the side of the body got my attention.  While they were drying I started the generator and let it run half an hour while I put up Onie’s clean clothes and then got an update on Ivan and the market.  Back outside the sky was darkening even though it was not yet five o’clock.  The prospect of getting 303 on the tires and wheels was looking dim as they were not yet dry.

Five o’clock saw Onie’s return with groceries, treasures from Guy Frenchy’s and mail.  We got everything into the coach and then she started getting hamburger fixings together while I got the grill going, in the rain.  It was back but at least the high winds hadn’t returned with it.

The supper hamburgers were great, a real switch from our usual meals.  The last bag of vadalia onions we had brought was opened for the occasion and some low carb bread provided the handles for the burger.

Bingo was on the schedule for eight o’clock so near seven thirty we began to walk to the rec building.  On the way we passed Adrian’s camper where he and his wife, Mim, and sister-in-law, Carla, and father-in-law, Nook, were sitting around a fire, built beside a wind break fence.  Yvette was also there enjoying the warmth and the escape from the wind that had come back.  We responded to the invitation to sit for a spell by stopping to chat but soon hurried on to bingo with a promise to return later.

Bingo was fun, as always.  When the numbers began to be called it seemed our cards were for another game as few numbers appeared for us.  That slowly changed and by the end of the evening when the coverall was played I had a bingo.

Outside the air had cooled even more.  We walked quickly back to Adrian’s where the same folks were still seated around the fire.  We sat for awhile before going on down to the pit.  The north wind was blowing right into the windbreak, in the pit.  The warmth from the fire was quickly dispersed and few people were braving the cold, to visit.  We stayed just a few minutes before heading to the coach.

At eleven thirty we sat down to play a game of crib before retiring.

It was fifty five in the pit when we pulled the covers up and settled in for a night’s sleep.     

September 11, 2004

GETTING READY

Ten days from the time we rose we will be well on our way to the States.  Many things wait to be done due to the uncooperative weather we have been having.  This morning the sun was shining brightly, before eight, and the light wind was still from the north.  The thermometer stood where it had when we went to bed, fifty five.

Before nine, Onie had left for the gym, with a load of clothes that she stopped and got going, before heading on.  On the way back she stopped, collected them and brought them home to hang out.  When they were hung she came in where breakfast was ready.

The coffee and tea were on the table with the blueberry pancakes and bacon.

After breakfast Onie cleaned the kitchen while I began caulking around the coaxial cable that feeds inside the coach from the satellite dish.  We had determined that is the source of the leak and are determined that it will be repaired, today.

We had been waiting all week for good weather so we could begin getting ready for the trip home.  We had the weather.  I headed outside, got out the ladder and began taking down the sun screens.  As they came off Onie began washing them with soapy water and a stiff brush.  Three months of accumulated grit, grim and dust floated away under her persistent scrubbing and then she laid them out to dry in the warm sunlight.

The table chairs and rugs were moved away from the coach and then I climbed up on top and began removing the dirt from up there.  Not surprisingly there was not a lot due to the persistent rains keeping any real accumulation from occurring.  While there I washed the slide covers and when the sun dried them they looked good as new.

Now our attention turned to the body of the coach itself.

With Onie wielding the soapy brush I rinsed after she was finished with an area and then scrubbed away any stubborn black streaks, tar or bugs.

When we got to the left side of the coach we paused long enough for Onie to take in the dry clothes and then we worked on until the coach was clean.

The roof had dried and I climbed back up to have a go at re-caulking the entry area of the coax as well as the sleeve that contains the coax.  Al was going to help by handing up the hose when I thought the job was complete and we would run water on it to be sure the leak was gone.  Al was going to watch the area from inside the coach.  Everything went according to the plan and the coach was dry once more.  On the way down I stopped to re-caulk an area in the back where the caulking was dried and cracked.

Now it was time to put the rugs, table and chairs back in place.  We did that together before Onie headed off to the store.

The sun had done its work and the screens were dry so I rolled them up and put them in the storage tubes.  We had decided we would do without them for the last week of our stay since we didn’t want to put them up dirty or wet.  We knew it might rain again.

The reorganization of the basement was a natural progression of things when the screens were in the tubes so things were taken out and repositioned and stored.  More packing would be needed a week from Monday but a good start had been made.

Onie returned with a few bags of groceries including some local apples.  She washed one and gave it to me.  It was a real apple and not a piece of fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.  I took a bite.  It was the best apple I had eaten in a long time.  She promised to get me some more on Monday.  They have just come in from the Annapolis Valley.  

The pancakes and bacon had long since taken their leave so Onie began supper preparations while I lit the grill.  When it was hot the bacon wrapped scallops were put on.  Onie prepared the salad and fresh green beans while the scallops cooked.

When supper was over at eight we grabbed a little warm clothing and headed to Steven and Yvonne’s.  Tonight there were no guitars playing.  A table, that had been so occupied all day, held two teams of crib players, most of who were the guitar players.  Music from the fifties came from the outside speakers on Steven’s trailer.

The group was small as some of the men were home watching the Canadian/Czechoslovakia Hockey game, part of the World Cup series.  Still others were watching a NASCAR race.  Those there enjoyed the music and a snack of hot sausage that Steven served up.   A few folks chose to twist, Jeanette Blinn had to be the champion, whip or limbo to the music as the night wore on.

When the hour was approaching ten Georgina brought her karaoke machine out and several of the group participated in the cooling night.  Craig and Georgina’s fifteen year old daughter,Tiffany, sang the theme song from Titanic, while most folks stood silent, watching and listening.  She has a beautiful voice.

Near eleven the energy level was growing low and I was ready to head for the house.  Onie decided to join me.  On the way we stopped to visit with Brian and Paul about hunting, here and in Texas, before getting home at eleven thirty.

At the coach Onie went straight to bed.  I stayed up for half an hour, ate another apple and played solitaire.